Alyssa Update.

I know we haven't had one of these in a while (and probably won't until after Sept 28th) but here is an Alyssa Medical Update: We have follow up tests which include a CT Scan, An Echo CardioGram, Labs and a Pulmonary Function test as well as a Port Flush scheduled for Sept 17th. We have the Follow up appt with Dr. Winter, her Ped. Oncologist on Sept 28th. I am asking for everyone to pray for Alyssa's tests to all come out clean. That is the only thing I REALLY want/need for my birthday so please pray the L*RD will provide! Thanks to everyone who continues to keep Miss Alyssa on their prayer list. WE still feel that our L*Rd is holding us up through all of this.
Thank you to all of the folks who have donated to the LLS Light the Night walk including S. Traeger, S & N. Hopfauf, the D. Family and more! All of you are awesome and I cannot tell you how much we appreciate your support on Alyssa's behalf.

Valencia county Community Expo.

This last week was spent down at the Valencia County Community Expo for 4H and FFA.

It was a great week for us and for many of our friends. I hope I can remember to congratulate

everyone!!!! Nik took first place in his woodworking project (the birdhouse), Alyssa took first in her Vet 1 project (a poster on Parasites), and her photography project (2 portraits of Matthias)

She took 4th in the 4H Agility show with Taylor and Nik did well with his goat project.

We want to congratulate all the kids who worked hard and their animals made auction but especially the Sedillo kids: 2 of their 3 Boer goats made auction, one of the girl's cake made it to auction and both girls won belt buckles in the Dairy goat division. Also way to go Reatta T. for doing so well with her pig. I know more kids did really well in a lot of different areas so I just wanted to sent out Kudos to them all for their hard work and perseverence to finish their projects.

More Thank You's

I just wanted to Thank a few more folks for their donations to our Lymphoma & Leukemia walk.
Thank you G & T Greenlee, and S. Traeger for your donations - we are now over 50% of our goal for the walk as a team!!!! All of your support is greatly appreciated. We are doing this for all of the kids and adults who are in the midst of this battle. We sure appreciate the support that LLS gave to us during this ordeal with Cancer - we want them to be able to support other families!!!!

Lymphoma & Leukemia Society - Light the Night Walk

AS team captain for TeamBlueSkies, I thought I'd update everyone on how our efforts are coming. WE have one new fundraiser/walker join the team - Thank you Erin Marshall!!! IF you'd like to join our team as a fundraiser/walker please sign up on our team page where it says JOIN at the bottom. http://pages.lightthenight.org/nm/Albuquer09/TeamBlueSkies.
We have also recieved a several very generous donations from several individuals - Thank you to Hector and Michelle, Erin Marshall, Jennifer Herring, Dr. Byron Wall, Emma Salazar and Marvin & Margaret Marez. We cannot tell you how much we appreciate your support of this walk we are doing to raise funds to find a cure and new medical treatments for Lymphoma and Leukemia. This organization has been a valuable resource for our family during Alyssa's diagnosis and treatment of Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Please, no matter the amount you can donate to help find a cure for these cancers - we'd appreciate it. You can again click on the link above and donate online at our team's homepage or you can send a check directly to me made out to LLS please email me at NMgoatgal@gmail.com to send a donation to me and I'll get it to the LLS office.
Thank you!

New Medical Updates for Alyssa

Well, after a month of rest (bliss, wonderful hospital-less bliss) we are back in for follow ups and
port flush tomorrow. SIGH! It will be fine I am sure but again, it means a whole day lost at the hospital in Albuquerque. I hate wasting my whole day in Albuquerque (gee Dee tell me how you really feel!) but we know these things are necessary. For those folks who asked if Alyssa needed more scans etc. the answer is YES. She will. The Radiation specialist thought that we wouldn't for "6 months or so" which I thought was ODD but when I called Pediatric Oncology about getting Alyssa's port flushed they didn't even know that she had finished Radiation and they said
that indeed Dr. Winter would still want her to do more scans soon. I figured as much!
but for tomorrow it's just Radiation follow up and of course a port flush.
So much fun. On a few other notes: We are about caught up with Nik for school, Alyssa is plugging away, and Suzy is ahead. The house and goat pens still need work but I'm pluggin away at that and of course all the yarn/fiber/gourd projects for upcoming shows etc. If you want to see what is up there go to http://FiberPhanatic.blogspot.com or click on the link to the right.

Organization of the Week - Baskets of Hope.

Another wonderful organization that blesses children with Cancer. The third time we were in the hospital, while Alyssa was sleeping of her 2nd round of Chemo, I stepped out for a bite to eat and came back to an ENORMOUS basket of goodies: books, music, CD player, toys, candy, a teddy bear, hats, and more. Alyssa was asleep otherwise Astro the Isotopes mascot would have come and visited as well. Anyway, I think that this organization is great. They want to bless the children and their families, to "nourish them mentally, emotionally, and spiritually". They pray for these children as well. This organization is my pick for this week's Organization of the week
Thank you guys for blessing Alyssa with one of your great baskets of Hope during a really hard time for us.
If you desire to be a part of this ministry in any way you may visit their website at www.basketofhope.org or call their office in Albuquerque Marge Davis at 828-0172o or email her at mdavis@basketofhope.org.

Bummer! Or Not....?

Well, last night I took Nizhoni's Joie De Vivre *D/1*M and her 1/2 sister Nizhoni's DW Tirzah to the vet to get sonogrammed. NOT pregnant - neither one!!!! Personally I'm not sure whether I'm really dissappointed - I was really looking forward to fall babies running around and entertaining us - or not - Less work, no need to disbud, tattoo, give shots and try to sell those that we aren't going to keep(Worse yet, what if we got all bucklings!!!) I was wanting to milk the girls thru the winter and be able to breed Miss Priss early this year as we are breeding her to the Kinder buck this year for meat - gotta give those boys a lot of growing time!!!! Assuming of course that we will get boys. Anyway, that is the news. OR lack thereof.
I am still trying to firm up some breeding plans but tentatively this is our schedule and the intented beau for the girls:
Nizhoni's Joie de Vivre - October - Piddlin Acres H Calm the Storm - Blue eyes possible
Nizhoni's DW Tirzah - October - Nizhoni's Orion
CBF TD Kokoro Kiseki - Nov/Dec - Piddlin Acres H Calm the Storm OR MCH Lost Valley ML Nekoda *S
CBF CS Paint Th'Sky with Stars - Nov/Dec - MCH Flying Goat Jazzy Blues *S Blue eyes Probable
Darkwind Goats Blue Denim Coral - ???? - Piddlin Acres H Calm the Storm. Blue Eyes Probable
WE will be taking reservations on Joie's babies as we aren't planning on keeping any of hers this year - we have so many of her's in the herd already. The rest we will be evaluating as they come. There will be NO bucks available out of any of the does except Joie. I have a doe back deal on Stars sister who will also be bred to Jazzy therefor I might have babies available out of Stars as well but we will cross that bridge when we get to it.
If any of these interest you - please let us know as early as possible. Normally we require a $50 deposit to hold a kid but we will take names and then when they are born we will contact those on the list. IF you need to see current pics of the girls you can check our website www.cbfnigeriangoats.com .. Also, we will post the bucks pics as soon as the breeding takes place. Thank you for placing your trust in us to provide your next Nigerian Goat!

Agility Goat!

My daughter wanted to set up some loaner agility equipment so she can work with her dog before County Expo and the biggest place we have to set it up is in the goat pen so we did.

Well, I went out to feed and low and behold Tirzah was doing the dog walk. I think if I tried hard enough I could probably make an agility goat out of her....LOL!!!! Sorry about the poor quality of the photo but if i got any closer she'd think I came out to feed and would jump off. click on the photo to see it blown up.